


a second chance

by fouralarmfire



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death Fix, Episode Fix-it: A Father's Love, Episode Fix-it: Exceptional Risk, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, me; an intellectual: jailbreak january is about robert montauk, set before the start of the show but there's spoilers for s3, times 2, you: jailbreak january is about elias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 01:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17613089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fouralarmfire/pseuds/fouralarmfire
Summary: in which a monster intent on killing him isn't the only visitor in robert montauk's cell that night





	a second chance

**Author's Note:**

> the canon-divergence aspect of this is me fudging the timeline in two ways:  
> \- raynor's visit to robert's cell and the subsequent attack happen a few years later than they do in canon  
> \- julia took that night shift job a few years earlier, so her dad was still alive & in prison by the time she met trevor  
> basically, everything from the statements in 'a father's love', 'exceptional risk' and 'nightfall' happened, apart from robert's death, and this is set in like 2006, so jules & trev are both a solid 10 years younger than they are when we (/jon) meet them in canon
> 
>  **content warnings:** if you got through the episodes mentioned above, you should be fine, horror-wise. there's some mentions of past murder, and Dark-typical monsters/Hunt-typical violence, but most of the actual violence happens off-screen.

Robert Montauk lies in bed, staring up at the ceiling of his cell. It’s nearing midnight, but his light is still on, and his eyes trace the imperfections in the white plaster. After all these years, there’s something comforting about the familiarity of the sight. He could really do with some comforting right now.

Since that visit from Raynor all those months ago, he hasn’t been able to close his eyes without feeling the darkness pressing in on him. He still shivers involuntarily every time he thinks of Raynor sitting in the visiting room with him, of the way his sightless eyes had seemed to bore into him as he’d asked a question that had made the blood freeze in Robert’s veins.

He had been so sure that he had ended it. After years and years of doing Raynor’s bidding, of killing whoever he was pointed to, he had finally taken control of his life and _ended_ it. When Julia had found those photographs… He had decided he’d had enough of lying to his daughter, had realised that his way of protecting her was still hurting her. So, instead of killing Raynor’s preferred target that night, he had sacrificed one of Raynor’s own people. And the monster had disappeared. It had _worked._

Not well enough, though, it seems.

_You didn't think you could kill it for long, did you?_

Robert is no longer that naïve. He knows his time is running out. Ever since Raynor’s visit, the lights in the Close Supervision Centre have been turning themselves off at seemingly random times. The guards have been complaining about malfunctioning taps, and he’s willing to bet whatever is left of his life that the water coming out of those taps is brackish and muddy. He’s seen it all before, of course. The night the monster had come for his wife. The night it had come for his daughter.

Julia. During her latest visit, she had seemed to notice he was more withdrawn than usual. She hadn’t pushed the issue, though, for which he was grateful. He doesn’t think he would have had it in him to tell her of the grim fate awaiting him. Better to let her believe that the supernatural could be left behind in her childhood. She hasn’t mentioned what she saw in the shed that night during any of her visits in the past few years, and he hopes she’s managed to write it all off as a nightmare. If she gets to live a normal life from now on, he’s content letting Raynor have his revenge on him.

Still. It is one thing for him to tell himself he's at peace with his imminent death.

It is quite another to suddenly hear a low growl coming from somewhere close by.

He startles and shoots up in bed, looks around and sees nothing but his sparsely furnished cell. Then, the lights blow out, and he sees nothing at all.

His survival instincts kick in, and he jumps out of bed, fumbles around for the book he knows to be on his bedside table.  He uses it as a make-shift weapon to lash out in the direction he thinks the growl had come from. The book connects with something and he hears a yelp, but the triumph is short-lived as he feels something sharp rake across his arm. He suppresses the urge to scream in pain and tries to hit the monster again. This time, the book doesn’t strike anything, and Robert looks around frantically to see where the next attack will be coming from.

It’s no use. The darkness is complete, and the monster seems to be everywhere at once now, slashing at him furiously. He loses his footing and falls over.   

In the split second before his head hits the floor, he hears a wordless yell. He thanks his own imagination for at least letting him hear Julia’s voice one last time, and then he falls unconscious.

 

* * *

 

And then he wakes up. Or... he thinks he wakes up. He feels cold, and there's a sharp pain in his arm. These sensations, at least, seem to indicate he's still alive.

He's afraid to open his eyes. What if he does and still doesn’t see anything? What if they have somehow trapped him in eternal darkness? It doesn't seem like something that would be beyond the capabilities of Raynor and his ilk.

Then, he notices two voices, quietly discussing something. There's one he doesn't recognise, a gruff voice with a strong Mancunian accent. The other voice, however, is achingly familiar.

If it really is her, he has to check, has to make sure she's okay. And so, he opens his eyes.

He could almost cry with relief when light washes over him. It's warm, and bright, and so different from the harsh white light of his cell in the CSC that it takes his eyes some time to adjust. When they do, he starts looking around. He seems to be lying in a bed, on top of some beige sheets. Looking down, he notices a bandage wrapped around his arm, the white fabric stained through with red. He tries to lift it up to take a closer look, but his shoulder protests and he lets out a pained groan.

He hears a gasp, and when he looks over he sees two people sitting next to each other on the second bed in the room. That's all he has time to register before there's a blur of movement, and two arms are suddenly wrapped around him. He's too startled to move, but then he hears the word "dad" being sobbed into his shoulder and he's hugging her back.

His bandaged arm hurts, but he doesn’t mind, doesn't care about anything other than the fact that Julia is _here_ , that they're somehow both alive and free and together.

When she finally loosens her grip a bit, he leans away to take a look at her face. There are tears in her eyes, and fresh scratches cover her cheeks, but her smile is more radiant than he ever thought he'd get to see again.

"I'm so glad to see you," he tells her, voice rough from a combination of disuse and emotions.

"Good to see you, too, Dad," she replies.

"Are you okay?" he asks her, looking at the injuries on her face. "We should put something on those cuts before they get infected."

Julia wipes her eyes and laughs at him. "Don't worry, Dad, Trevor already made me put disinfectant on them as soon as we got to the motel."

It’s only then that Robert remembers the third person in the room with them, and he looks over at the other bed to see a man sitting there. The part of his face not hidden behind a bushy white beard is covered in those same scratches as Julia's. He looks tired, but he's grinning at them.

"Can’t be too careful, Jules," the man says.

Julia rolls her eyes at him good-naturedly. "I can't believe I have to deal with two of you now." Then she looks back at Robert. "That's Trevor," she explains. "He helped me kill... that thing."

"I-" Robert is not sure what to say to that. "Thank you," he settles on, hoping the sincerity in his voice comes across. "Thank you both."

"All in a day's work," Trevor replies, still smiling.

"You saved my life, Dad," Julia says. "Felt like it was time to return the favour."

"You... you know, then? About what happened?" Robert asks.

"Parts of it. Creepy cult, obsession with the night, sharp-clawed monsters of darkness. I've done some research since then. This isn’t my first monster hunt, you know?" She sounds so matter-of-fact about it all. As if the fear of these things hadn’t kept Robert up at night, hadn’t made him end the lives of dozens of innocent people just to make sure the next victim wouldn’t be his daughter. As if he hadn’t done everything in his power to keep her from finding out and adding to the trauma of her mother’s disappearance. Her nonchalant attitude now is a bit concerning.

She seems to notice his worry, and her face softens. "Dad, I'm not the 11-year-old kid you left behind when you went to prison. I know what’s out there, and I can _fight_ it."

"I know you’ve grown up," he replies. "It’s just, when you visited me in prison I knew you were getting taller, and finishing school. I didn’t think you were… hunting monsters.”

"I'm fine," she tells him. "I’m safe. Me and Trevor are very competent." She pauses, looks over at the other man. "Well, me more so than him," she adds.

"Oh, very nice, Jules. Remind me again, who saved your life in that office building last year?"

"Who saved yours in that abandoned car park last month?" she shoots back.

"Who-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, both very competent," Robert interrupts. He's still processing the shock of almost dying tonight, and then of finding out that his daughter has apparently taken up monster hunting. He feels like his heart might not take it if he has to hear a list of her near-death experiences right now.

Pushing aside his concern, he decides to ask a question that’s been on his mind since he woke up. “How did you know I would be attacked tonight?”

“We didn’t,” Julia replies. “Well, not at first. It’s always sort of a hunch, I guess? We keep our eyes and ears open and then sometimes we’ll notice things, or feel like we need to be at a certain place. When we started nearing Wakefield, I realised that that monster you’d killed might have come back.”

“The chaos started when we were just trying to break into the prison,” Trevor continues. “I don’t know if we could’ve gotten in and out without it, so I guess that’s something to thank the monster for.”

“Given that it’s the reason I ended up in there in the first place, that seems fair.” Robert pauses. “So… what now?”

“The plan is to lay low for a while, just to make sure no one’s looking for you,” Julia replies. “Your cell looked… pretty grisly. With some luck, the guards’ll think you got mysteriously killed, but just in case, we’ll find you a hoodie and some sunglasses or something to avoid recognition. I’m not saying you need to copy Trevor’s whole style, but growing a beard might be a good idea, too.”

“What will you do?”

“Kill monsters, save people, the usual.”

“Julia…” He hesitates. “I don’t want you to put yourself in danger like that.”

“Dad, I love you, but I’m 23, okay? This is my life now and I’m not gonna change it just ‘cause it’s not what you had planned for me. I can make my own choices.”

Robert can’t help a wry smile at that. “Guess it’s not too late for that teenage rebellion after all, huh?”

He hears Trevor let out a short laugh, but Julia is still looking at him sternly. “I’m serious,” she says. “I can’t just not do anything when I know that evil is out there. If I have the chance to make sure some other kid doesn’t lose their mother, I have to take it.”

Robert doesn’t really know how to argue against that. “I’m really proud of you, Julie. I don’t think I’ll stop worrying anytime soon, but you should know I’m proud of you.”

Julia smiles at him. Robert hesitates. “I could help, you know? I have some experience with this particular cult, I might know something useful. And I’m pretty good in a fight, if any of the opponents you have to take out are ever a little more… human.”

Aside from this being a chance to keep an eye on Julia, it would feel good to try to balance the scales somewhat. He doesn’t think he can ever do enough good to make up for the innocent people he’s hurt, but he might as well start here.

Julia’s smile widens, and she opens her mouth to answer, but then hesitates and looks over at Trevor. Robert has to admit it stings a little. He’s grateful that the other man seems to have been looking out for his daughter while he was gone, but he can’t help but feel somewhat replaced.

Trevor shrugs. “I gave up on the whole lone wolf thing a while back. If you feel like helping out, you’re welcome to.”

Julia looks back at Robert. “Welcome to the team, Dad.” He smiles as she claps him on the shoulder. “Hey, now that there’s three of us, we can start workshopping team names, right?”

Trevor’s reply of “absolutely not” is cut off when Julia yawns loudly.

“Get some sleep, Julia, we can talk about this in the morning,” Robert says fondly. He moves to get up out of the bed to give her space, but before his feet hit the floor, he sees Trevor getting up out of the bed he’d been sitting on and moving over to one of the two chairs in the room.

“I’ll take first watch, you should both sleep,” he answers Robert’s questioning look.

“I just got-” Robert glances around the room for a clock. 3.12 a.m. “I just got three hours of sleep, I’ll go first.”

Trevor rolls his eyes at him. “Mr Montauk-”

“Robert.”

“Robert,” Trevor amends, “I think we both know there’s a difference between being knocked unconscious and actually sleeping. And no offence, but you don’t look like you’ve done a lot of that second one recently.”

Robert would like to deny that, but apparently Julia’s yawning is contagious, and Trevor shoots him a rather pointed look when he, too, yawns.

“I- alright, thank you,” Robert concedes.

Julia hugs him again and then climbs into the other bed. “Goodnight, guys.” She closes her eyes and rolls onto her side.

“Sleep tight,” Trevor replies, before turning off the overhead lights.

Robert feel relieved despite himself when Trevor turns on the smaller light on the table. Even though the threat is presumably over for now, it’s clearly going to take him a while to be comfortable in the dark.

He lies back down and listens to the sounds of Trevor flipping through the pages of some magazine and Julia’s gentle breathing. For once, he’s not afraid to close his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! hope you have a great day!  
> feel free to let me know if you notice any typos/grammatical errors :)


End file.
